Last night at UFC 215 in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, “The Lioness” Amanda Nunes (15-4) successfully defended the bantamweight championship against number contender Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko (14-3). After five hard rounds Nunes was declared the victor via split decision on the judges scorecards. The incredibly close fight immediately sparked controversy with fellow fighters and fans alike. Some thought “The Lioness” did enough to retain while others thought “Bullet” shot her way to victory. Take a look at the fight breakdown below and let us know who you scored the fight for!

Amanda Nunesvs Valentina Shevchenko

STRIKING

RD1:16 of 39 – 41% vs 11 of 34 – 32% +5 strike differential

RD2: 17 of 35 – 48% vs 15 of 41 – 36% +2 strike differential

RD3: 17 of 43 – 39% vs 20 of 42 – 47% +3 strike differential

RD4: 20 of 50 – 40% vs 25 of 49 – 52% +5 strike differential

RD5: 15 of 28 – 54% vs 33 of 49 – 68% +18 strike differential

TOTAL: 85 of 195 – 43% vs 104 of 215 +19 strike differential

COMMENTS: Backed up by the numbers, Valentina was the more active and accurate striker. Shevchenko set up superman punches and counter check hooks to close the distance and land most of her shots. Nunes landed a couple a stiff jabs throughout the fight but nothing of major significance. Shevchenko also utilized a consistent right leg kick from her classic Muay Thai stance that set up her combinations. Shevchenko did a good job of pulling her head back to and avoiding Nunes’ high kicks and overhand rights. In the fifth round, Valentina was put on her back. She remained active from guard, landing sharp elbows and heavy punches.

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TAKEDOWNS

TOTAL: 3 of 5 – 60% vs 0 of 1 – 0%

COMMENTS: The majority of the fight took place at kickboxing range. In the fifth round, as Amanda was pressing forward, Valentina attempted a judo throw but lost position in the scramble. The fighters were back on their feet after a brief moment on the canvas and Nunes went right to work on another takedown. Shevchenko’s takedown defense A1 but a persistent Nunes secured a late double leg.

POSITION CONTROL

TOTAL: 1 min 28 seconds of ground control, 1 min of clinch control

22 minutes 35 seconds of neutral position

COMMENTS: 22 minutes of the fight were spent in neutral position. No fighter had the clear advantage here. One fighters efforts were cancelled out by the others. For example, Nunes controlled the center of the octagon more but when “The Lioness” was controlling the center she was hesitant to engage. Throughout the fight, Nunes did a great job of avoiding a clinch battle with the Muay Thai specialist as she shrugged her off every time they engaged. In the fifth round, Nunes got the back of Shevchenko but didn’t sink her hooks in or advance position. The champion accrued 1 minute and 28 seconds of top control at the end of the round but against wasn’t able to advance position or land damaging shots.

Source: Stats provided by UFC official website. Numbers are “live and unofficial”.

3 comments

Interesting stats. I wonder what the source is. Fightmetric.com had the strikes more in Nunes’ favor. These stats seem more representative of what I saw. Fightmetric.com further breaks it down into strikes and significant strikes. So much of what the judges view is subjective and a lot depends on their angle as they have no instant replay. Same with what we see when watching it on the screen. We only see it from one angle and from another it could look like what we thought was a strike wasn’t and vice versa. If Valentina gets another chance at the title, she needs to either totally dominate or finish. No more putzing around the first two rounds trying to get a feel of the fighter.

Hey Juchi! The stats are from UFC’s official website. I checked out FightMetric and I was initially going to use them but I also thought these stats were slightly more represented of what I saw too. I’m going to go back and rewatch the fight to really focus and make my pick. I was completely up in the air when the decision was announced.

Also, you are spot on– if Val gets another chance she definitely cannot leave ANY gray area.

Thanks for the heads up, Nick. I had seen references to their (UFC) stats before but never followed up on it. This time after some searching, I found them. Let me know if you have any revisions to your original opinion after your second viewing.

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